Further funding schemes

Here you will find a selection of international calls on citizen science. Some of them support entire citizen science projects, while others support only partial aspects such as networking activities. An overview of citizen science calls can be found on the website of Österreich forscht.

Calls by the European Commission

Horizon 2020 (H2020) is the current and largest EU research and innovation programme to date, with almost €80 billion in funding over a period of seven years (2014 to 2020). Find a call HERE.

Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, has set three objectives for the EU's research and innovation policy - Open Innovation, Open Science and Open to the World - which are outlined in a strategy document.

The wide range of topics and calls, e. g. in H2020, provides Citizen Science researchers with a wide range of funding opportunities, even though only a few calls have so far focused on citizen science. Of particular interest here are the "Science with and for Society" programme line and the "COST" initiative. Another citizen science-relevant funding instrument from the environmental sector is "LIFE".

A good opportunity to familiarise yourself with the funding criteria of the European Commission is to work as a scientific evaluator. You will find all the relevant information on this subject in the Commission's Participant Portal.

Science with and for Society

As part of Science with and for Society, the European Union publishes calls on citizen science with the aim of tackling societal challenges while involving the population. The national SwafS contact points of the European countries have drawn up a Citizen Science Policy Brief including further information and links.

Life

The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action and is particularly suitable for the funding of citizen science projects on biodiversity. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental and climate policy and legislation by co-financing projects with European added value. Since 1992, LIFE has co-financed more than 4500 projects. For the 2014-2020 funding period, LIFE will contribute approximately €3.4 billion to the protection of the environment and climate. The best projects of 2010-2015 can be viewed on the website.

On 28 November 2017, an information event "Citizen Science goes Horizon 2020 - Funding opportunities for 2018-2019" was held at OeAD-GmbH, organised by the FFG and the Center for Citizen Science. In his presentation, Dr. Michalis Tzatzanis (FFG) gave an overview of H2020, SwafS and the submission process. Afterwards, Dr. Steffen Fritz (IIASA) spoke about his experience gained from citizen science project submissions to H2020. Finally, Mag. (FH) Nicole Schmidt (FFG) gave an insight into COST in her presentation.

Further international funding

In Germany, in 2016 the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMB) issued the first specific call for proposals to fund research projects in which citizens are significantly involved. In Australia, Citizen Science Grants have been in existence for quite some time as part of Inspiring Australia - Science Engagement Programme. In America, the Earthwatch Institute supports citizen science projects. For more funding opportunities, see the Citizen Science Center's list of funding opportunities.

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